Savory Pineywoods Beef Liver Pate With Bacon, Rosemary and Thyme

Pineywoods Beef Liver Pate With Bacon, Rosemary and Thyme

There is a lot of experimentation in the Ozark Akerz farmhouse kitchen. Sue, being what Mike considers a culinary alchemist, doesn’t always follow or write down a recipe. Well, she finally (and reluctantly) chose to cramp her style and wrote down her recipe for liver pâté.  We’re often asked by Pineywoods Heritage Beef customers what they can do with the liver, apart from the age-old standby, liver and onions. We can now share this easy to make and delicious recipe with you.

Liver pate is even eaten at midnight in Denmark

But first, a little background into how this recipe came to fruition. Mike was born in Denmark. When he was 6 months old and his parents, Inger and Kai, immigrated, first to the Faroe Islands, then Zimbabwe and finally Canada. His parents loved to party and entertain. Every dinner party or celebration was an opportunity to teach their friends about Danish cuisine.

Danish liver pâté, called “leverpostej” (pronounced liver-posteye) was always a big favorite. Sue has learned to love it and has put her own spin on it with this liver pâté recipe. Mike says it rivals the best leverpostej that butchers make in Denmark. Danes eat leverpostej almost daily. An open-faced sandwich with a liberal spread, garnished with a pickle, bacon, pickled beets, fried mushrooms, mustard or a generous pinch of coarse salt, the list is endless!

One favorite at Danish dinner parties is “Dyrlægens natmad” (pronounced dewa-layenz nat-meh). A direct translation to English is “The Veterinarians Midnight Snack”. It was first introduced in 1920 at Oskar Davidsen, a restaurant in Copenhagen that specialized in open-faced sandwiches.

The name was inspired by veterinarian Sigurd Kejlgaard, who frequented the restaurant and requested the open-faced sandwich regularly. Mr. Kejlgaard tended the horses in the royal stables as well as circus horses at the now defunct Circus Miehe. Dyrlægens natmad is often served 

after midnight at parties in Denmark and meant to help sober folks up before they catch the last train home. The open-faced sandwich has 5 layers:A slice of dark rye bread, bacon grease (in place of butter), leverpostej, salted beef tongue and “sky”. Sky has no English equivalent but is best described as gelatinized beef broth. Mike likes to top it off with onion. Tasty!

A Chef de Cuisine Favorite!

We recently took samples of our Heritage Pineywoods Beef to a meeting we had with the Chef de Cuisine at a Chef and the Farmer restaurant as part of a sales meeting. At the last minute Sue decided to make some of her liver pâté to take as for him to sample. Chef and the Farmer are reviving an age-old tradition of no-waste butchering and use the entire animal including the bones and organs. Some chefs have told us that they like to sample liver from the farms they buy from, they can tell a lot about how animals are raised and how healthy they are by the flavor of the liver.

When we arrived at the meeting, the Chef de Cuisine immediately got a spoon to try it. By the time we finished the meeting 20 minutes later, he had eaten a third of it and told Sue "that's really delicious!". He took what remained to share with the rest of kitchen staff. We sent him the recipe the next day and delivered the restaurant their first Pineywoods beef order a month later.

However you decide to eat your leverpostej, we know you will love the flavor of Sue’s recipe. Hopefully we will see more of her recipes in the future.

Recipe

Heritage Pineywoods Beef Liver Pâté with Bacon, Rosemary, & Thyme

* 6-8 thick pieces organic nitrate free uncured applewood smoked bacon
* 1 small organic sweet onion, chopped
* 4 cloves organic garlic, minced
* 1 pound wild-foraged Heritage Pineywoods Beef liver
* 2 tablespoons fresh organic rosemary, minced
* 2 tablespoons fresh organic thyme, minced
* ½ teaspoon sea salt

INSTRUCTIONS
1. Cook the bacon until crisp, remove from pan and set aside to cool.
2. Add the onion and garlic to the bacon grease and cook for 1 minute on medium-low. Top with liver and sprinkle with herbs. Cook slowly, turning several times, until the liver is no longer pink in the center. Optional: keep a small amount of the raw onion aside & add in Step 3 for some crunch.
3. Cool slightly. Place all ingredients into a food processor, including bacon grease from the pan, sea salt, and optional raw onion. Process to your preferred consistency, I prefer it smooth.
4. Enjoy warm, fresh from the food processor by itself or on your favorite bread or cracker. Experiment with toppings – one of my favorites is bread & butter pickles. Refrigerate leftover pâté and eat cold or reheat, as desired.

Inspired by: https://autoimmunewellness.com/bacon-beef-liver-pate-with-rosemary-and-thyme/